Family Secrets
by Alexi Maree
Summary: Family secrets. Every family has them, Hermione's family is no exception. But when she is told her mothers biggest secret, it will change her life forever.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Not mine.  
  
A/N: I've decided to try and write this story. It's been running around in my head for a while now, but I've set it after OotP so there will be spoilers in it. I don't know how it will work out but if you like it, please review.  
  
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It was the third week of summer holidays after fifth year, when it all started. I was in my bedroom reading some new textbooks that Professor McGonagall gave me to read and learn over the holidays. I heard the phone ring but didn't bother to get to my feet to answer it. It was never for me, seeing as though the majority of my friends don't even know how to use a telephone. I heard mum answer it downstairs and then promptly forgot all about it when I became ingrossed in learning how to do the charm to change an animagus back into its original form. I swore that Wormtail would not get away next time.  
  
All of a sudden my mother burst into my room.  
  
"Hermione, pack some clothes quickly," she said, while hurrying around my room, grabbing clothes out of my closet and throwing them on my bed.  
  
"Mum, what's happening, who was on the phone?" I asked starting to get worried; I'd never seen my mother in a mood like this before. She always seems so unflappable.  
  
"Mya, just pack. I'll explain on the plane."  
  
"Plane? Where are we going?"  
  
"Mya!"  
  
"Okay, okay, I'll stop asking questions as soon as you tell me where we're going." I needed to know what to pack, didn't I?  
  
"Italy," Mum said while leaving the room.  
  
Italy. My mum's Italian, but she left there when she was twenty-two. I've never been there myself. I've been to about twenty other European countries, but never to Italy. Mum always said no. I don't know why, it's where my parents meet and fell in love, but they've never been back.  
  
So I packed and two hours later we were on a plane to Rome. My dad was still at work and would be catching a plane after work to join us. I wanted to know what the big rush was.  
  
"Mum, we're on the plane now, want to tell me what's going on?" I asked getting annoyed at being kept in the dark.  
  
"I got word that your grandfather was killed."  
  
"Your father. But you told me all your family was already dead."  
  
" I lied," she stated simply.  
  
"Why would you lie to me about that?" I couldn't believe it, I had family she didn't even bother to tell me about, "Do I have any other family members walking around I should know about. You know, aunts, uncles, cousins."  
  
"No, it was just Alexander."  
  
"Then who called you, to tell you he was dead."  
  
"His advisors."  
  
"Why." I was about to ask why he needed advisors when she cut me off.  
  
"Look Hermione, I've talked to my father a grand total of once since I left Italy. He disowned me you see, when I chose your father over the man he had picked out for me. Now, please, can you wait until we get to our destination before you ask any more questions? I'll explain everything there."  
  
First she says she'll tell me on the plane, now she tells me she'll tell me when we get to our destination. I have this funny feeling in the pit of my stomach that what's happening has everything to do with me.  
  
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We arrived at the hotel at 11.45 pm that night. Mum made a call to someone, probably the advisors, then told me to get freshened up, they would be here soon to see me. That just confirmed my theory that what's happening has something to do with me. But before I could ask any questions my mother raised her hand to shush me.  
  
"Later," she said.  
  
So I went and had a shower like I was told to, all the time, my mind working overtime, trying to figure out why they needed to see me. The only reasonable explanation that I could think of was that my grandfather was rich and he left me some inheritance. Later I found out to a certain extent I was right.  
  
When I was finished I came back out to the main room to find three men there with my mother. As soon as I entered the room they all turned toward me. I felt like a bug under a microscope by the way they were looking at me, three pairs of eyes assessing me. After a couple of minutes one smiled and walked toward me, arm outstretched.  
  
"Hello, my name is Luka Pedoni," he said shaking my hand, "And these gentlemen are Paulo and Nicolas Mardrid. It's a pleasure to meet you.  
  
"You too," I responded.  
  
"Please sit down, I'll order us some tea," my mother said, being the gracious hostess that she always is.  
  
" No Elana, we're fine. We need to get down to business," One of the men said, Paulo I think.  
  
" Now I know your wondering what's going on and before we tell you I want you to do something," Luka said. I liked him, he seemed much nicer than the other two.  
  
"What?" I asked looking at my mother. She nodded encouragingly.  
  
"We wish for you to try on this ring," he says then holds out his hand. On his palm is a plain gold ring with a capital M stamped on the front with diamonds. It was a mans ring it wasn't going to fit me and I told them so but all they said was "Just try."  
  
So I did. And in that second my life changed forever. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Still not mine.  
  
I slid the ring onto the third finger of my right hand. It was too big - just like I told them it was. I was about to slide it off again when I felt a tingling sensation starting in my hand. It continued throughout my body. All of a sudden, the ring started to glow and shrink to fit my finger.  
  
Magic. My grandfather's ring was magic. This was all I could think. I looked towards my mother, but she was staring at the ring, with her hand clamped over her mouth. I didn't like this at all. I started to pull the ring off, but it wouldn't budge an inch.  
  
"It won't come off, Hermione. Not until you die. You are the heir. We weren't sure whether you would be or not," this came from Luka, while I was still yanking at the ring, trying to get it off.  
  
"The heir. The heir of what? Mum, what is going on?" I cried at her. She just stared at me.  
  
"Oh, baby. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. He wasn't supposed to die until you were much older. After I had had a chance to explain, for you to be trained."  
  
I tried to calm down, hoping that someone would explain just what I was the heir to. why this ring wouldn't come off and why my body felt like I had pins and needles everywhere. All of a sudden the front door opened and my dad walked in. I flung myself at him. Mum was starting to frighten me. He looked down to my hand and saw the ring. I couldn't tell what the fleeting emotion that passed across his face was, but I could tell it wasn't happiness or joy.  
  
"Mya, sit down, your mother will explain everything now," my father said gently to me, stroking my hair to calm me down. So I sat down and stared at my mother, ignoring the other three men in the room. At the moment I didn't care a whit about them. They were irrelevant. I wanted to know what was going on. She stared back at me as if she weren't sure of where to begin, so I decided to help her.  
  
"Given that the ring was magic, I'll take a wild leap and suppose that my grandfather was a wizard. Am I right? And if I am, that means you've been lying to me for my entire life," she cringed when I said that. She deserved it. I couldn't believe that my mother had been lying to me, even a lie through omission. I thought she was the one person that I could trust beyond a doubt.  
  
"Some lies are necessary. They were kept quiet for your own safety."  
  
"But I suppose my safety isn't an issue any more," I shot back.  
  
" No, I don't suppose it is. My father was a very rich and very pureblood wizard," she began. "But with many very pureblood families, squibs are born. Now while Alexander wasn't exactly a squib, he wasn't exactly powerful either. But he had a very shrewd mind and a very commanding presence that allowed him, when his father died, to become the heir. I, on the other hand was most definitely a squib. I can do no magic whatsoever. That was never a lie. But all was not lost. If I had a child that was a wizard, that child had a chance of inheriting. So my father went to great lengths to find me a suitable husband, because as you know, one wizarding parent is enough."  
  
"Like with Seamus, his dad's a muggle, while his mum's a witch," I injected.  
  
"Yes, so my father and his advisors, arranged a marriage to a wizard with an impeccable background. Everything would have continued perfectly, if one day I hadn't been knocked over by a ruggedly handsome Englishman." She looked at my father and smiled, remembering the day they met.  
  
"But as the story goes, my father did not approve. Your dad was a muggle. 'Elana,' he said, 'you know if you choose him then our name will die with me. Do you know what that will do to our world? No child borne of you two will ever be a wizard.' But he was wrong. I chose your father and we eloped and moved to England, far away from my father, who disowned me, and from anyone here in Italy who would recognise me. He told the press that I had died."  
  
"Was that really necessary?" I had to ask. It seemed too much to me.  
  
"His Name was Lord Alexander Medici. He was killed by You-Know-Who yesterday," Nicolas injected, "So I think it was necessary." He handed me a copy of the Italian wizarding newspaper. I saw the headlines.  
  
LORD ALEXANDER MEDICI FOUND DEAD. Will this be the end for us all?  
  
Lord Medici. I knew about him of course. We learnt about him and his lineage at Hogwarts. We had to. He basically controlled all Wizarding Europe.  
  
I remember the passage well. Many years ago, the world was on the brink of destruction. Magic was uncontrolled and humanity began to suffer terribly because of it. Five wizards of the age met to discuss ways to control the magic. If the magic was left to unrestrained, it would eventually destroy the whole world and all who dwell within it. After many years of discussion, the five found a way to bind the magic to them and their kin. Channelling it through their systems, giving them control over the magic and the land solved the problem.  
  
Each of the five wizards took a part of the earth's landmass to control. They are now known as the five continents, Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America. While there are seven continents in the muggle world, in the wizarding world, Australasia and Antarctica are part of the Asian continent. To the relief of many, this binding spell worked, leaving the world at peace for the first time in many hundreds of years.  
  
The wizards found that even though they had magic flowing through them, it did not make them any more powerful - except through their connection with the land. Through it, the wizards could control their land and the people in it. Over the years, these wizards and their heirs became the rulers of the five continents. With all rulers, muggle or wizard, there were some good and bad, but overall this system worked well. That is, until one of the lineages died out.  
  
The magic connected with the land was unleashed for the first time in a number of millennia and the ancient cultures of Africa were wiped out. Few humans remained after the magic had run its course, settling itself into the land. The few that remained spread themselves out to start new cultures. What once was, was forgotten. Through out the millennia other lineages died out, with the same devastating effects. North and South America were both lost. The only two still standing are known as Europe and Asia, ruled by Lord Medici and Lord Chang respectively. Lord Chang had eight children - their line was still going strong. The Medici line was in danger - who would become the heir?  
  
"You see, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named believed, along with the rest of the world, that I had died without producing a child, so therefore the Clan Medici was left with no heir to control the land. So when he died, while the power over the land would be lost, the ownership itself would be left to whomever was in the will. This would leave open the estate itself to be bought and sold to whomever pleases," my mother explained to me. I was beginning to understand.  
  
"Voldemort could get hold of many dangerous objects that he usually wouldn't have ever been able to touch." Everyone, except my father flinched when I said his name - even my mother. I began to realise why it was important to my mother that no one knew that I was alive. Had Voldemort known I existed, I would be up there with Harry on his 'Need to Kill' list. Some of the rumoured possessions of the Dark Lord are so powerful and dangerous, that in the wrong hands they make the Philosopher's Stone in Voldemort's power seem like child's play.  
  
"But if the magic was unleashed, everyone would die. It makes no sense to have killed him, even for his possessions," I said, not understanding Voldemort's logic.  
  
"It is believed that he thought that he would be able to channel the escaped magics into himself and therefore become Lord," Paulo told me. "It was not the first time that he tried to kill off the Lord, but before he always failed."  
  
I sat there for a while thinking. If what they were telling me is true. and instinctively, I knew it was. I am now Lady Medici. I now control Europe. And at that moment all I could think about was that Malfoy was going to regret every mean thing he ever said to me. Shock makes you think funny things I suppose. The advisors started whispering to one another. I wanted to know what they were saying.  
  
"Excuse me gentlemen, what are you whispering about?" I asked them.  
  
"My Lady, we were just discussing how we are going to announce this to the wizarding world," Nicolas addressed me. "No need to worry."  
  
" Do I have any say about this by any chance?" I asked, getting annoyed at the patronising tone that he was using.  
  
"Mya, let them do what they think is best. The wizarding world is probably very panicky at the moment," my mother said to me.  
  
"I don't know them, Mum, so therefore I don't trust them. If there is one thing I have learnt being Harry Potter's best friend for the past five years is to be careful whom you trust, because people are not always who they seem. If this is really happening I want people I trust here. Contact Professor Dumbledore and the Weasleys. I want them here now. Until then, I'm going to my room. Come get me when they arrive. Don't tell them anything until we are all back here together." With that I left. I was going to have to get used to giving orders as Lady Medici, so I might as well start learning now. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
A/N: Sorry about the delay. I had half of this written, sitting on the hard drive for the last month at least, but University got in the way of me finishing it. They certainly know how to pile all the assignments on at the same time. Anyway, thanks to all those who reviewed, it was very much appreciated.  
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An hour later I heard a knock on my bedroom door.  
  
"They're here Mya," my mother called softly through the door.  
  
I'd been sitting in that room for the last hour thinking about how they were all going to react to this startling news. What was going to happen to me now? Would I be going back to Hogwarts or would I have to start ruling straight away? I suppose these questions would be answered soon enough.  
  
I walked into the parlour and I saw Ron standing there looking around, fidgeting nervously. All the questions vanished from my head leaving only relief that he was here. I ran straight to him and hugged him. He stiffened for a bit like he always does before he started hugging me back.  
  
"Hermione, what's going on? Are you all right? Have you been hurt? Your mother wouldn't tell us what's wrong," he started asking me urgently.  
  
"I'm fine Ron. There's no need to worry," I said pulling away from him. "Some things have happened and I wanted you all here," I said smiling at him to the other new occupants in the hotel room.  
  
"Miss Granger, is there something you would like to tell us?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
I looked around them all, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ginny, Ron and Dumbledore. They were looking at me expectantly. And the words to explain flew from my head, so all I could do was raise the hand that my new ring sits upon and show it to them. I looked at their faces awaiting their reactions but only Dumbledore and Arthur seemed to realise what the ring meant, so I spoke to them.  
  
"I wanted people I trust here, because I don't know what I'm supposed to do," I told them. I mean, what do I know about running a continent? It had started to click for the other three that there was something about this ring that had made Dumbledore and Arthur silent.  
  
" What's the M on the ring stand for," Ginny asked me, after seeing her father's reaction to it.  
  
"Medici," Dumbledore answered for me. A light of understanding crossed Ginny's face.  
  
" Why would Hermione have a Medici ring?" Ron asked, still not getting it. I love Ron, I really do, but sometimes he is not the quickest on the uptake.  
  
" Because Alexander Medici was my grandfather Ron," I explained to him. He went white as a sheet when he computed what I said.  
  
" Well this is very interesting don't you think," Dumbledore asked the room, "Why don't we all sit down so everything can be explained to us."  
  
So everyone sat down and my mother started to explain. Ron stared at me the entire time, and for the first time in my life, I couldn't read the expression on his face. It was blank. So I stared back, waiting for a flicker of anything to pass on his face. Nothing. I started to worry then, that Ron was going to take this news badly.  
  
" Well, we always knew Hermione was destined for great things," Ron spoke for the fist time. I could have cried. I ran to him and hugged him again, knowing that I was the luckiest person in the world to have a best friend like Ron. Loyal to a fault he was. To tell you the truth I wasn't sure that he was going to react well to this news. He already felt overshadowed by Harry and now with my new powers, it could have gone badly.  
  
" You know, I could begin to get a complex. My two best friends happen to be two of the most important people in the world."  
  
"What are you going on about Ron, you already had a complex before this," Ginny said cheekily. I had to laugh.  
  
"Hey!" Ron said with mock outrage, "I did not."  
  
"Ronald, you do remember fourth year, don't you? The entire lack of speaking with Harry for months," I reminded him, sniggering still.  
  
"Hey, what is this, dump on Ron day, and to think I travelled thousands of miles to be here, I could have stayed at home and let Fred and George do that. But I'm over it, I realise now I'm thoroughly under appreciated by those in my life, but I can complain about that later, right now I have a question," Ron said in a laughing tone, "Do I have to call you My Lady now and bow every time you walk in to a room." I elbowed him in the stomach. Ha ha.  
  
" Of course not, you idiot, I won't expect that from my friends."  
  
"Ooh, does that mean that you'll make Malfoy do it, 'cause that would be funny," Ginny said with a smirk on her face. Isn't it amazing that we think so much alike?  
  
" Oh, you've got to Hermione, it would be funnier than the whole ferret incident," Ron interjected, "You know you want to." I thought I better interrupt then because Ron was getting that glint in his eye that he gets whenever the prospect comes up about humiliating Malfoy, but I was beaten to the chase.  
  
"If you've all finished?" Nicolas interrupted, he didn't to look amused, unlike the majority of the rest of the room, even Dumbledore had a small smile on his face. But Nicolas was right this wasn't the time for jokes, decisions still needed to be made.  
  
" I think Voldemort just made his gravest mistake," Dumbledore stated to the room at large while looking straight at me, "He killed a ruler who, while being a good man, was not anywhere near as powerful as his ancestors, and replaced him with one of the most powerful witches in the world." I looked at him with shock. I had never though of myself as being very powerful, or at least not to the extent that Dumbledore just implied.  
  
" I need some guidance, and while these three men would give it to me," I said gesturing to the advisors, "as I told them, I don't know them and therefore I don't trust them. This is why I called you here. I trust you all. So I ask for your help. Unlike my grandfather I have no heir to replace me when I'm gone, so no matter how powerful I may be, I am at a disadvantage to him." I was about to continue, when I was once again interrupted.  
  
"This is why My Lady, the best course of action at this time is to find you a husband, so that you can reproduce," Paolo injected. I just stared at him until he started to fidget nervously.  
  
" Please tell me that I did not hear that. I AM 15. Reproducing is not on my list of things to do for at least another ten years, nor is marriage. And did I mention the fact that I am 15," I voiced loudly.  
  
"Hermione, while I understand your concerns, the world is in the middle of a war and the survival of your bloodline is a very important factor. Also a pregnant Lady will raise the spirits of your people, putting their faith in you, their new ruler, instead of Voldemort," Dumbledore stated quietly.  
  
I was about to speak out about this when I looked around the room. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were nodding their heads in agreement with what Dumbledore just said, Ginny just looked at me sympathetically, but I knew she agreed with him to. My mother and father just looked at me and smiled and I knew that no matter what I choose they would stand behind me 100%. The advisors, well I already knew they agreed with Dumbledore, perhaps though not for the same reasons. Last I looked at Ron, hoping to see a sign from him, but his face was once again blank  
  
"This is your decision Hermione, no one else's, you have to make up your own mind," Ron whispered to me, smiling gently. He knew I was looking to others for the right decision and would not give me his opinion. He was right, I was the Lady, my decisions would affect the world, and I could not look to others to make them for me.  
  
Deep inside I knew Dumbledore was right, if I died and Voldemort did manage to get the powers, the world as we know it would be gone. No matter how strong or brave or powerful Harry became, he would not be able to defeat Him. And I would have failed my people, something I made a promise to myself right then that I would never do.  
  
"And who am I to marry, I don't have a boyfriend, if you didn't notice," I spoke up. The relief that crossed the faces of some of those in the room was so obvious.  
  
"Hermione, you're a beautiful, intelligent witch, I don't think you will have any problem finding a husband," my mother spoke up.  
  
"Finding a husband will not be the hard part, finding the love to go along with it will be," I answered her, sadness etched in my voice. 


End file.
